UPDATE 2-Tennis-Safina edges Williams to win classic in Berlin

(Updates after later matches)

By Kevin Fylan

BERLIN, May 9 (Reuters) - Russian Dinara Safina won a great scrap with fifth seed Serena Williams 2-6 6-1 7-6 to end the American's 17-match winning streak and reach the German Open semi-finals on Friday.

Safina, a surprise winner over top seed Justine Henin on Thursday, made a nervous start but found her game in the second set, as Williams started to reel off unforced errors, and went on to claim another high-profile victim in two hours 10 minutes.

Ana Ivanovic, the tournament's second seed, was fighting to avoid the same fate when her match against Hungarian 10th seed Agnes Szavay was called off due to bad light.

Szavay had taken the first set 6-3 and was looking strong before the Serb snatched the second with a late break 6-4.

Safina now faces unseeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus after she saw off the 15th seed Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine 7-6 6-2.

The winner of the match between Ivanovic and Szavay, which resumes on Saturday at 0900 GMT, will meet Elena Dementieva after the seventh-seeded Russian beat Jelena Jankovic, the fourth seed from Serbia, in an up-and-down 6-3 2-6 6-3 win.

For the second day running it was Safina who supplied the thrills, as her fightback proved too much for Williams.